The Good In You
by Sassy08
Summary: Set directly after the season finale. Katara runs into Zuko outside of the city and they talk calmly.


Title: The Good In You

Summary:- Set directly after the season finale. Katara runs into Zuko outside of the city and they talk calmly.

Disclaimer- I own nothing...WAIT! Maybe now I do... Nope. Still nothin'.

Just a quick one-shot I came up with while sitting here bored. This is set the night of the season finale. That's an important detail for the tone of the story in a way.

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With dry eyes, Katara snuck off while everyone was sleeping or resting. She just needed time to relax, time to think, not time to cry. She'd cried too much that night already. She wouldn't start again, at least not until tomorrow.

She sat down on a tree trunk that had fallen to the ground. Her feet rested inches above the ground as she settled down. With one hand on each side of her, she looked up at the clear blue sky. She could even see the stars and the moon, glowing extremely bright. There was some kind of animal making a comforting chirping sound somewhere far off. It was peaceful.

"Irony." A voice called from behind her. "Such a calm night after a brutal, chaotic, almost torturing day." Katara didn't tense up at his voice. She didn't turn around angry or even turn around at all. She simply sat there still looking at the sky.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Life's like that sometimes." She could hear his footsteps coming closer to her but she still remained calm and made no movement.

"Just sometimes?" He asked climbing over the tree trunk to sit beside her. "If it's just sometimes in you life, then I wish I had your life." He didn't look at her and she didn't even so much as shift her eyes in his direction.

"So what are you doing all the way out here?" She finally took her eyes away from the stars and looked straight forward.

"I wanted a walk, far away from my sister." He answered. "I didn't mean to run into you."

"I know." She told him, finally turning his way. With him looking forward, all she saw was the scar that covered half of his face. At the angle she saw him, it almost looked as if the scar covered his entire face.

No words were exchanged as Zuko turned his head, reminding her that the scar was only half of him. There was a silence that filled the air, with only the occasional chirping from that one animal. Both of their faces held a soft, almost friendly expression, like nothing bad had happened that day.

"You said you could heal my scar." He mentioned, almost inaudibly. Katara shook her head very quickly and he looked surprised but disappointed as well.

"I don't want to anymore." She told him, not mentioning that she had already used the oasis water on Aang. That fact didn't seem important. "I don't want to." She repeated softly.

"I understand." Zuko nodded looking down and to the side. He hadn't really expected her to but it was still a disappointment.

"No, no you don't." She put her hand on his scar making him look up. "This scar…" She paused, rubbing her thumb over his cheek. "This scar doesn't represent the bad side of you." His eyes squinted slightly, asking her to continue. "It represents the good in you." She let a small smile cross her lips. "It shows how strong you are, how committed you can be. It doesn't show evil or failure." She raised her other hand to his unscarred cheek and moved her thumb over it as well. His eyes slowly closed. "Your scar represents your independence from the Fire Nation, every good choice you've made. Everything good that happened to you was because of your scar." His eyes snapped open and looked her directly in her eyes.

"What about the other side?" He asked almost breathless.

"It shows who you used to be." She answered simply. Zuko raised his hands up to hold hers but kept them on his face. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on hers for a few moments before breaking away.

"How can you be so sure that there's even the slightest bit of good in me?"

"Because I know you." As he stood to leave, Katara made one last comment. "Your scar shows how different you are from the rest of the Fire Nation." Zuko paused for a moment, trying to think about if she was right or not.

"I'll see you in battle." Was his only response. Katara nodded as he walked away, leaving her alone for the second time that day.


End file.
